


Another Road

by hlravensnest_archivist



Category: Highlander: The Raven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-06-12
Updated: 2005-06-12
Packaged: 2018-12-16 21:59:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11837856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hlravensnest_archivist/pseuds/hlravensnest_archivist
Summary: Note from Daire, the archivist: this story was originally archived atHL Raven's Nest. Deciding to give the stories a more long-term home, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address onHL Raven's Nest's collection profile.





	Another Road

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Daire, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [HL Raven's Nest](http://fanlore.org/wiki/HL_Raven%27s_Nest). Deciding to give the stories a more long-term home, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [HL Raven's Nest's collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/hlravensnest/profile).

Another Road by RSS

  
  


_Another Road_

By RSSacchi 

* * *

Jan de Houthulst and his bride Colette are honeymooning in the Italian Alps. Jan drives along a mountain road and as they near a bend Colette unfastens her seatbelt and scoots close to her husband. 

“Till death do us part.” 

“Yes, Colette, together forever.” 

“No, just till death.” 

Colette grabs the wheel with both hands and turns the wheel opposite the road as she stamps her foot on Jan’s foot, which is on the accelerator. She laughs wildly, Jan screams as he tries to gain back control of the wheel. The car smashes through the guardrail and flies off the cliff. 

* * *

Fernand de Houthulst and his wife Terese are at the home of the widow Colette in Belgium. Fernand is Jan’s older brother, a thin man with unremarkable features in his early thirties. Terese is a short woman with curly brown hair and brown eyes. 

“I know you killed my brother. You won’t get away with it.” 

“I loved Jan. You only love money.” 

“How dare you!” 

“You were the one who convinced Jan to have me sign a prenuptial agreement. I signed it because I didn’t care about money.” 

“You couldn’t get rich through divorce so you decided on murder.” 

“That’s absurd!” 

“Is it?” 

“Yes. I will hear no more of this. This is my house now, get out!” 

“You haven’t seen the last of us.” 

Fernand and Terese walk out. Colette doesn’t think she was convincing; she didn’t want to be. She finds it amusing when someone is convinced of her guilt but can’t do anything about it. 

* * *

**GREAT BARRIER REEF, 1975**

Count Flavio Baracca and his bride Colette are skin diving. They return to their boat and Colette takes off her diving gear then steps inside the cabin. She takes a large ring out of a jewelry box, puts on the ring and opens its compartment. Poison pours from the compartment into a champagne glass. She smiles. “A bit dated, but I am an old fashioned girl.” She takes a second champagne glass and a bottle of champagne and goes topside. 

“Champagne to celebrate our first dive as husband and wife.” She pops the cork, which lands in the ocean, and pours champagne into the glasses and hands the glass with poison to Flavio. 

“To many years of happiness.” 

“Yes, many years together.” 

Colette watches for a few moments. Then Flavio gags, cyring out before he doubles over. Colette throws Flavio’s glass over the side. She takes her glass and the champagne bottle and stands. 

“I put some poison in your glass. No, it’s not a joke. You’ll be dead in a matter of moments.” 

She finishes her glass then refills it. “Don’t look at me that way. Even if I were to have regrets there’s nothing I could do at this point. You may find it some consolation that I put off this diving expedition for three days because I found you interesting. I’ll put your diving gear back on then dump you over the side. There’s one thing you can help me with: I can’t decide if I should sail one hour or two before I stop and report how I lost sight of you during the dive. Two hours would make it less likely they’ll find you and also make it more likely another boat will spot me. That could complicate the investigation. Yes, I agree with you, one hour is long enough.” 

* * *

**PRESENT TIME**

Colette is in her house in Paris and feels the sensation of another Immortal. Rushing to the window, she sees a tall woman and a taller muscular man. The woman has short white hair, dark blue sunglasses, and a red scarf wrapped around her neck. She recognizes the woman; her name is Amanda. She calls to her butler, “Marcel!” 

“Yes, my lady.” 

“There are two visitors coming. Show them into the study.” 

“Yes, my lady.” 

Colette walks into the study and positions herself close to a sword display. She remembers the first time she met Amanda. 

* * *

**ENGLAND, 1653**

Colette walks through a marketplace when she senses another Immortal. It’s a tall, thin woman who has Colette’s height and build. She’s well dressed. The woman cuts a man’s purse then scans the area and makes eye contact with Colette. 

Colette smiles. _The woman is a natural thief._ The women walk toward each other. 

“I am Colette, first death 1337.” 

“I am Amanda, first death 850.” 

“Over eight hundred years and you are still cutting purses?” 

“You have big eyes.” 

“Would you like to do something more rewarding, in many ways?” 

“Do you know of something more rewarding?” 

“Yes.” 

* * *

**PRESENT TIME**

Marcel shows Amanda and the man into the den. “This is Amanda Montrose and Nick Wolfe.” 

“Thank you, Marcel.” 

Marcel walks out. 

“Amanda, how long has it been?” 

“About three hundred fifty years, darling.” 

Nick Wolfe coldly states, “This isn’t a social call. We‘re private investigators investigating the death of Jan de Houthulst.” 

“So my brother-in-law and his lovely wife hired you to investigate my husband’s death.” 

“Our clients are confidential.” 

“Will you deny my brother-in-law is your client?” 

“We will neither confirm or deny --” 

“All right. So someone, who might or might not be my brother-in-law, hired you and Amanda to investigate Jan’s death. Actually, I’m glad it was you two. I can see where it looks suspicious. Our car went over a cliff. Jan was killed but I came out of it without a scratch. That doesn’t make sense to a mortal.” 

Amanda walks to Colette’s side. “Why don’t you tell us what really happened, darling?” 

“No, I wasn’t thrown clear. Jan was driving, fast. He lost control at a turn and we crashed through the guardrail and went over the cliff.” 

“Darling, we’re Immortals here, let’s be honest. Over the past hundred years you’ve had six husbands, all rich, all died under mysterious circumstances.” 

“Amanda, any death can be mysterious darling. The truth is I’m rich, and money marries money. I like excitement so I like men who like excitement. Unfortunately mortals are fragile. I see you’ve gotten around that Amanda.” 

“Nick and I are business partners.” 

“Ah, Nick, we have something in common. Amanda and I were once business partners.” 

Nick has the look of a young Immortal, no doubt a child of the 20th Century. Colette bets he was a cop killed in the line of duty. She hopes Amanda won’t like to fess up to her past and would want to end this questioning quickly. 

“Nick, I think we’re probably done here for now.” 

Nick looks surprised but nods agreement. He turns to Colette, “We’ll be back later.” 

“Good, Amanda and I could talk about old times.” 

She has Marcel show Amanda and Nick out. She walks back to her study and looks through the telescope so she can read their car’s license plate. 

* * *

**ENGLAND, 1653**

Colette looks through her telescope. An Astrologer she knew demonstrated this invention to her. Colette has found a much better use for it than stargazing. She spots an approaching coach with her spyglass and yells to Amanda, “A coach is coming!” 

She and Amanda are both wearing black men’s clothes. Amanda sticks two hooks, tied to ropes, into a tree trunk. Colette rushes over to Amanda and takes one of the ropes. They tie the ropes to their horses and have the horses drag the log onto the road then mount their horses and ride into the woods. They don black masks and wait. 

The coach rounds the bend and quickly stops when the coachman sees the log. Colette and Amanda draw their pistols and ride to the coach and shout in deep, mannish voices. 

“Everyone out of the coach!” 

“You, coachman, get down!” 

The coachman gets down and two men and two women step out of the coach. One woman is young and thin; the other is plump and middle aged. Colette throws a bag to the coachman. 

“Collect the money and jewelry from the passengers and do not forget to put your money in the bag.” 

The plump woman indignantly proclaims, “I will not give you my jewelry.” 

Colette points her pistol at the man standing by the plump woman. “Forfeit your jewels or forfeit your man.” 

“Bernice, put your jewels in the bag.” 

Bernice puts her jewelry in the bag. 

“Good choice, he’ll be grateful for as long as he lives.” 

The coachman hands Colette the bag full of loot. Colette and Amanda ride off but moments later two shots ring out. One ball strikes a tree. 

* * *

Colette and Amanda stop riding by a lake, laughing loudly as they dismount. They walk to a boulder and Amanda turns to Colette. 

“The excitement was well worth the wait.” 

“Yes, I especially like it when they fire at me while I am in flight.” 

They each retrieve a large sack. Amanda looks at the lake. “Should we bathe before we change into our women’s clothes?” 

* * *

**PRESENT TIME**

Colette is in her study; she has been busy lately transferring the assets of her late husband to various Swiss bank accounts. She sees a Mercedes approaching her house before sensing another Immortal. Nick and Amanda arrived the other day in an SUV. Moments later she recognizes Amanda, who is alone in the car. She has on brown sunglasses and a matching scarf. “Good, we can have some girl talk.” 

Colette steps out of her study and hollers, “Marcel, there’s a visitor, show her into the study.” 

She steps back into the study, finishing her transaction before she exits the application and opens a computer game. 

Marcel shows Amanda into the den. “This is Amanda Montrose, you may remember her.” 

“I do. Thank you, Marcel.” 

Marcel steps out and closes the door behind him. 

“Back again Amanda, where’s big Nicky?” 

“He’s checking on you. He’s talking with his client.” 

“His client, not yours?” 

“I work with him on a consultant basis.” 

“I see.” 

“Colette, we’ve learned a few things. You’ve been siphoning off your late husband’s assets.” 

“It’s only a matter of time before my assets are frozen and my finances end up at the mercy of a Byzantine court system. So I want to put as much of my money out of the hands of my greedy relatives through marriage.” 

“You’ve got an answer for everything, don’t you?” 

“Amanda, let’s get down to cases. I’ll pay you what they’re paying Nick and you just say you found no evidence of foul play.” 

“The standard bribe is twice what the other guy is paying.” 

“Amanda, you draw a hard bargain.” 

“It’s not an offer, darling. Nick can’t be bought and he doesn’t gives up.” 

“Yes, I did some checking on Nick. He was a police officer in America. He made a couple of high profile arrests. In 1998 his partner and another officer got killed in the line of duty. Shortly after that he came to France. My guess is he died with the other two officers. There were a string of robberies in the area. Did you have anything to do with the dead police officers?” 

A sad expression comes to Amanda’s face and she looks away. 

“Amanda, I understand. You know I do. What we have here is a row of unhappy cases. It’s bad to dwell on the past. Convince Nick to give this up. Give him your centuries of experience.” 

* * *

**ENGLAND, 1653**

A coach stops for a log that’s blocking the road. Colette and Amanda dart out of the trees on a small hill. 

“Everyone out of the coach!” 

“You two, bring down that chest!” 

The coachman reaches for the chest, the other man reaches for a gun. Colette shoots the man and he clutches his belly and falls on the top of the coach. Colette puts away her gun and takes out another one, pointing to one of the male passengers. 

“You help him bring down the chest. Quickly, lest you share his fate.” She throws a sack at the other male passenger. “You and the others put your money and jewelry in the sack. Put the chest on the ground.” 

The wounded man groans. 

“That man needs help!” 

“Silence! Put your money in the sack.” 

The men put their money in the sack. 

“Leave the sack on the ground and walk away from the coach. Keep your backs facing us.” 

Colette takes a rope and dismounts and throws the sack to Amanda. She ties the rope around the chest then hoists it onto her horse, mounts and rides into the forest. Amanda follows her a few moments later. 

* * *

Colette and Amanda walk through the town square. 

“Amanda, there is no sense concerning yourself.” 

“No one was supposed to get hurt, Colette.” 

“Amanda, pistols are not like swords. I must have seen a dozen men shot; none were seriously injured. It will make others less willing to attempt heroics. We will probably never have to fire again.” 

“You did not have to fire this time. We are Immortals.” 

“I did not expect to hit him. Would you prefer we heal in front of them? Would you prefer to dangle from a rope? Amanda, now he has some excitement to brag about. In a decade or two he will probably be telling how he fought off two highwaymen.” 

Amanda stops walking then slowly approaches a poster. Colette joins Amanda. The poster offers a reward for two highwaymen wanted for murder and robbery. 

“He died!” 

“Amanda, it is unfortunate but it cannot be changed.” Colette leads Amanda quickly out of the town square. “Amanda, I feel terrible about this as well. It will be best if we go back to the inn and lie down.” 

Amanda regains her composure “I think it best we separate. They are looking for two highwaymen.” 

“Men, not women.” 

“It is best we take extra precautions. Maybe we will become partners again some day.” 

“I hope so. We really work well together.” 

* * *

**PRESENT TIME**

Colette walks into the lobby of the hotel where Fernand de Houthulst and his wife Terese are staying. She has on a short white haired wig, a red scarf, and dark blue sunglasses. Colette assumes Amanda and Nick have been here a few times. Since she has a similar height and build as Amanda, Colette hopes any witnesses might get them confused. 

The Houthulst’s got some of Colette’s assets frozen. She also knows there is a concerted effort to track down the assets Colette moved before the courts clamped down. 

Colette puts on a pair of gloves in the elevator. Colette makes her way to the Houthulst’s room. She puts her fake card into the slot and the door unlocks. One thing she’s learned over the centuries: with determination and talent, any security system can be beaten. She steps inside the room and waits. 

* * *

Colette hears the door unlock and she takes out a berretta. Terese walks inside the room followed by Fernand. Colette jumps out, puts her left hand over Terese’s mouth and shoots Fernand in the heart. Putting the gun to Terese’s temple, she fires and Terese’s body goes limp. She puts the gun in Terese’s hand then squeezes off two more rounds into Fernand’s body. She drops Terese and looks at the door. There’s enough room for her to squeeze out without disturbing Fernand’s body. “Perfect.” 

* * *

As Colette returns to her car after her evening run she senses another Immortal. She sees Amanda waiting for her. 

“What brings you here Amanda?” 

“The Houthulsts. They were murdered this afternoon.” 

“The radio said it looked like a murder-suicide.” 

“We both know better than that.” 

Colette slowly walks to the front of her car. 

“You shouldn’t jump to conclusions. You don’t know that for sure.” 

“You do.” 

“Would I be wrong to assume you don’t have clients anymore?” 

Amanda walks over to the driver’s side of Colette’s car as Colette circles around the passenger side. “The clients are gone but the case continues. I told you Nick doesn’t give up.” 

“Where is big Nicky?” 

“He’s still at the office.” 

“Did you come here to warn me to leave town?” 

“No.” Amanda draws her broadsword. Colette unlocks her car, throws her keys at Amanda, opens the car’s rear door and pulls out her rapier from a compartment inside her rear seat. 

“Amanda, think about what you’re doing.” 

“I have.” 

“We made a great team. We could be a great team again.” 

“I’m not a murderer.” 

“We’re Immortals. That’s what we do. For a profit, for a Quickening, what difference does it make?” 

Amanda and Colette circle around the car clockwise. 

“It makes a difference to me. Sometimes we do it to end a serial killer’s career.” 

Amanda vaults over the car and attacks Colette. They parry, lock swords then push away from each other. 

“Amanda, you’re risking your life for what, to impress Nick? No, man is worth that.” 

“Someone has to end your career.” 

Colette charges at Amanda. They parry and lock swords. 

“Nick is a bad influence on you. You shouldn’t deny what you are.” 

“I am not a murderer.” 

Colette punches Amanda, who pushes Colette away. Colette runs to her car and rolls over the hood. “Amanda, this is your last chance.” 

“One of us is dead.” 

“I’ll send flowers.” 

The women run to the front of the car and continue their fight. Amanda is a much better fighter than Colette expected. 

“I’ll tell Nick all about this before I take his head.” 

Amanda charges at Colette who shifts to the side and sticks out her sword. Amanda jumps back and makes a two handed swing with her broadsword, which sends Colette’s rapier flying. Colette punches Amanda, who returns the punch Colette with her broadsword hand. Colette buckles and Amanda trips her. Colette is flat on her back. 

“You’ll wise up someday. Sooner or later you’ll be just like me.” 

“When that happens I hope someone does this.” 

Colette screams as Amanda swings her broadsword. 

* * *

**EPILOGUE**

The Sanctuary is closed and a gloomy Amanda sits by the bar next to Nick. 

“You did what you had to do, Amanda.” 

“I know. I just can’t help thinking if a couple things went differently I would be just like her.” 

“No way do I believe that.” 

“I’m not so sure.” 

“I am.” 

**THE END**

* * *

© 06.12.2005   
Please send comments to the author! 

* * *  
  
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